A soap solution is added to water. What is the effect on the surface tension?

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Question: A soap solution is added to water. What is the effect on the surface tension?

Options:

Correct Answer: Decreases

Solution:

Adding soap decreases the surface tension of water.

A soap solution is added to water. What is the effect on the surface tension?

A soap solution is added to water. What is the effect on the surface tension?

Step 1: Understand what surface tension is. Surface tension is the force that makes the surface of a liquid behave like a stretched elastic sheet.
Step 2: Know that water has a high surface tension because water molecules are strongly attracted to each other.
Step 3: When soap is added to water, the soap molecules mix with the water.
Step 4: Soap molecules have a part that likes water (hydrophilic) and a part that does not like water (hydrophobic).
Step 5: The soap molecules disrupt the strong attraction between water molecules.
Step 6: As a result, the surface tension of the water decreases because the water molecules are not as tightly held together.

Surface Tension – Surface tension is the cohesive force at the surface of a liquid that causes it to behave like a stretched elastic membrane.
Effect of Surfactants – Surfactants, like soap, reduce surface tension by disrupting the cohesive forces between water molecules.